Your Contributions are Valuable – The Size Does Not Matter!
I consider group study
as a form of knowledge crowdfunding where everyone covers some part of the
study material, and shares their perspectives and understanding to drive greater
assimilation of the material by all. So today, I encouraged members of my study
group to share points from their personal study and reading in order to make
the group worthwhile. As I ruminated on the matter, though, I realized an
important lesson in life: No matter how little your contributions are
to a group, relationship, union or other associations, give it lovingly with
your whole heart and it may be the most valuable contribution of all!
Since the background
of this realization was educational, my experience at school when I first
offered Management Accounting came to mind. That Semester, the ‘little’ I did
not know became the most important knowledge and I lost everything I had worked
for.
That Semester I 'offered' 13 courses as a Direct Entry student as against the 8 the regular
students did as I had to carry on the General Studies courses they did in the
previous year which I skipped. It was a semester marred by Lecturers strikes
and so was quite short.
The Management
Accounting course covered 5 broad topics and I understood 4 of them very, very
well. But one of the topics was too difficult for me and I was unwilling to
commit the extra time to understand it because I had so much work to do. And I
was full of myself! I reasoned that since the exams typically had 5 questions
with the option to answer 3, in a worst-case scenario, the questions that would
be set from the difficult part would be 1 or in an unlikely situation, 2. I’d
still have 3 or 4 questions from the other topics to answer well and pass, and
what is more, it was not like I was totally blank on the difficult subject. So
based on my calculations, this course was in the bag – yeah, I can live with a
‘C’ on this one, but who knows, it can be a ‘B’ or even an ‘A’. I was on a roll!
But the most shocking
thing happened to me. The exam of course had 5 questions, but as I read the
questions, a cold sweat crystallized at the tip of my head, running down to my
feet and by the time it reached my toes, it was very hot. All the questions,
all 5 questions were drawn from the one topic I found difficult! The 20% I did
not know was worth 100% of the Course! You guessed right, it was an ‘F’ and it
did great damage to my CGPA – my little cost me so much!
Learn to value people
in your circle; learn to also value what you bring. If you are in a group and
there is a call for contribution, but you do not have much, bring it still; do
not be mesmerized by the huge contributions from others. Money may be the
language of the world today and you may not have it but you may have time,
counsel, and expertise in making the money work. Please bring that – bear in mind
that the money on its own doesn’t get the job done – at least not with the
love, joy and kindness you bring it with to your friends.
The contributions from
your friends matter; you may be the richest man in the neighbourhood with many rich
friends but the ‘little’ a friend has and is willing to share may be all you
need when the chips are down. To illustrate the importance of the little others
have, a man is very wealthy, associates with the crème-de-la crème of society but he falls sick and needs a caregiver. It could be the valuable
advice and care from a friend who has not been a giver materially that comes to
his rescue. The ‘little’ 1% that this friend gives may be what keeps the man
alive.
We need to realize
that relationships are even more complex than the humans who form them. Giving
in a relationship are never balanced and equal in all parameters; sometimes based
on the ‘currency’ of the day, the one who gives what is considered most
valuable often feels he is a better friend, for example, friends who have and
give out more money may consider themselves more important in the relationship.
But is money the most important variable in our life? Other less endowed
friends may bring qualities you need to survive, they may bring the laughter
that brightens your life or the clarity you need to make wise decisions, maybe
sympathetic, and help in your visioning – things you do not have and can not
really buy.
This lesson about
giving our all no matter how little has application for both the person who
gives plenty and the one who has little to give.
Do not despise your
little, and do not allow others to do so. Your little one may just be the precious
piece that completes the puzzle. In history, the heroes have often done a
little compared to what everyone did put together- 'a little of the whole’. For
example, in a war, thousands of men fight, and many pay the supreme price, but only
a few get medals of honour because they did something significant, like a brave
soldier who bombs a critical infrastructure of the enemy and is declared a
hero. Did this man win the war? If that action was all that was done in the
war, would his Army have won it? What about all the faceless and nameless
people who contributed to making sure he could carry out the mission? Their
‘little’ contributions may have made this feat possible; imagine if they had
withheld it because it was little!
In every relationship,
if you have something you (can) give, no matter how small, continue to give it,
and of course, seek ways to give more. To the one who has little to give in
my study group I wrote ‘In this exam, that little, that 1% you are ‘ashamed’ to
share may be where all the critical questions may come from. (It could also be
what gives someone in this group the 1 mark needed to pass, you know how crazy
it can be). The worst part may be that your point/idea is still in its raw form
and is totally worthless to you. If you share it now, we can all polish it and
make it valuable for all. It is just like a man who finds a precious stone in
its raw form but needs an experienced friend to tell him the value, make an
investment to get it processed and both benefits!’ That is the message to you
as well, give what you have and complete someone’s puzzle.
To you giving plenty –
that is what you signed up for when you agreed to enter the relationship or
association. As long as you remain there keep giving! Give 100% or nothing and
do not think it is all there is; learn to value the little that your associates
bring to the table. You do not need to learn the value of the ‘little’ the hard
way I did in the exams at school.
If I have entered any
form of relationship/association with you, if you are truly my friend be assured
that I value the little you do for me, it is what completes me – just come with
a complete heart and give your 100%. I hope you also make the same resolve with
me and your other critical stakeholders.
May all in a
relationship give a 100% of what they can give and continue to seek ways to
expand their reach. No matter how little you think your contribution is, give
it with all your heart – the lives of your friends may depend on it.
Cheers to appreciating
the ‘little’ things!
Related Article
Picture Credits: https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/joining-study-group-benefits; Puzzle: Unknown
https://www.inman.com/2020/02/20/from-101k-to-11-mls-rankings-show-extreme-contrast-in-size/
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